“A collection of profound and epic album reviews and musical articles by former astronaut and brain surgeon, Alasdair Kennedy. Reaching levels of poetry that rival Keats and Blake, the following reviews affirm Alasdair to be a prodigy, a genius and a god whose opinion is always objectively right. He is also without a doubt the most modest man in the universe.” - Alasdair Kennedy

Pages

Friday, 7 March 2014

Review of "G.I.R.L." by Pharrell Williams

Interesting fact: Pharrell likes girls

G.I.R.L is ten tracks of smile-inducing,
breezy, funk-pop and doesn’t try to be anything more. If you’re looking for
jazz flute solos, crazy time signatures and lyrics as deep as Atlantis then look elsewhere. The only experimental moment on this album is the
almost-eight-minute “Lost Queen”, which is really just two songs lumped
together under the same track title with some ambient wave noises thrown in the
middle.

This lack of pretentiousness is what gives
G.I.R.L its charm. There are also a lot of big names on this record to gawp at:
Daft Punk, Miley Cyrus, Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake. This isn’t much of a
surprise coming from Pharrell. Over the course of his career, the
N.E.R.D-rapper-turned-r&b-singer-and-producer has managed to work with
every musician in the known universe (probably musicians in unknown
universes too). Daft Punk, Robin Thicke, Azealia Banks, 2 Chainz, Cee-lo Green,
Mike Posner, Nelly, Hans Zimmer and Gary Glitter are just a handful of the
artists he worked with last year alone. Okay, so I made up the bit about Gary
Glitter. The point is, Pharrell has connections.

It was a daring choice to include Miley Cyrus
on this album, considering how marmite a musician she is. She stars on the
track “Come Get it Bae” which is a song about an aerospace company.

BAe = British Aerospace. That's what the song is about, right?

Now, as some of you may know, I’m a huge fan of
Miley. You only need to read my review of Bangerz to realise that (read here). Understandably,
some listeners will see her presence on this album as a pitfall. I don’t see it
as a pitfall. There are far greater flaws with this album.

Yes, that’s right, I think this album sadly has
flaws. This will ruffle a few people’s feathers, but I think the production is
an issue on G.I.R.L. Everything is a little too lean for my liking. I’m well
aware of the reputation Pharrell has as a master producer, and, yes, he knows how
to polish up sounds and make them crisp. However, keeping the album sounding
human is important, and some of instruments have been so overproduced on this
record that they might as well all have been programmed by computers.

The lyrics also get a little too dumb in places – even by
pop standards. There are corny lines littered throughout this record and whilst
the majority of the tracks stay classy, even Pharrell can’t make the image of a
“gushing” pussy sound smooth.

Saying that, this album’s overarching
positive aura cannot be ignored. If you’re feeling down in the dumps and you
want something cheap and cheerful to lift your spirits, this album is the
perfect prescription. “Happy” is, in my opinion, this album’s highlight and one
of the best pop singles to hit the radio in months.

The appeal of this record can also be enjoyed by multiple generations. The album's got a definite retro funky flair but is equally modern through its use of urban slang and pop culture references and use of current guest stars.